Jordan Spieth at AT&T Byron Nelson 2016: Friday Leaderboard Score, Reaction

Jordan Spieth is in firm contention heading into the weekend at the 2016 AT&T Byron Nelson after firing a five-under 65 in Friday's second round. The effort left him tied for first place with Brooks Koepka at 11 under as the afternoon wave of play kicked off at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas.  

For a while it appeared Spieth was getting ready to pull away from the field, posting four birdies over a five-hole stretch to finish his first nine. He couldn't maintain that level of execution, tallying just a single birdie after the turn, but he still did enough to put himself ahead of the pack for the time being.

Let's check out the star's scorecard for Round 2:

Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	IN
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	OUT
Par	4	4	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	35
Score	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	2	3	31
Total	-6	-6	-7	-6	-7	-7	-8	-9	-10	-
Par	4	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	35
Score	4	3	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	34
Total	-10	-10	-10	-10	-10	-10	-11	-11	-11	-

And here's a look at the updated tournament leaderboard:

Spieth missed the cut at The Players Championship last week, which marked his first competitive action since a meltdown in the final round of the Masters last month. It raised questions about whether the two-time major champion had entered a funk.

He responded with a six-under 64 to open the AT&T Byron Nelson on Thursday. Although the vastly improved score suggested progress, Jason Sobel of ESPN.com noted Spieth still wasn't completely comfortable with his game after the opening round.

"It's just kind of something that everyone goes through," he said. "You've got to learn to deal with it your own way. Everyone gets frustrated when you play golf. You can't be perfect in this game. Everyone who is out here is on some level of being a perfectionist. Kind of counters each other. That's where you get frustrated."

The Texas native started on the back nine Friday and wasted little time climbing the leaderboard. He posted five birdies over his first nine holes. The only blemish was a bogey on the par-three 13th.

Although it still wasn't picture-perfect golf by his high standards, his putter came alive in a major way to fuel the hot start. Arron Oberholser of Golf Channel noted four of his birdie putts were nine feet or longer, including a pair from beyond 20 feet:

"

Spieth with birdie makes of 9', 21', 35' and 11'. 2 putt birdie on 16 and a 3 putt bogey on 13

— Arron Oberholser (@ArronOberholser) May 20, 2016"

The PGA Tour highlighted his long-range effort on the 17th, which at the time moved him into a tie for the tournament lead:

Perhaps predictably his blistering pace cooled off a bit after making the turn. His approach shots remained merely average, and his putter couldn't bail him out during a series of birdie looks from beyond 30 feet, creating a string of pars.

Scott Bell of the Dallas Morning News pointed out the holes were all going similarly:

Spieth finally broke the streak of pars with a birdie on the par-five seventh. He nearly holed a 45-foot putt for eagle, but it ended up being one of several narrow misses on the greens during the second nine. It was a fine exhibition of lag putting, though.

He finished the round with a couple of more pars. He missed his first green in regulation on the ninth, coming up short out of a fairway bunker, but he got up and down to avoid dropping a stroke.

The PGA Tour passed along highlights from his second round:

Looking ahead, the biggest question since Spieth failed to close the deal Sunday afternoon at the Masters is how he would respond the next time he found himself in that position. The golf world may find out the answer this weekend.

The fact he hasn't played perfectly and still finds himself in prime position to pick up his eighth career PGA Tour victory is a promising sign. He should be right back on top once everything starts clicking on all cylinders again, though Jason Day won't give up the No. 1 ranking without a fight.

Spieth has continuously downplayed the lingering impact of his setback at Augusta. Picking up the win this week would help him leave that forgettable day in the rearview mirror for good.

Post-Round Reaction

Mike McAllister of PGATour.com provided Spieth's comments about grabbing his first lead since the Masters last month:

He also discussed starting to once again cut down on his costly errors, as relayed by Sobel.

"Just took advantage of the easier holes," Spieth said. "Had a couple longer putts go in today and found both of the par-5s in two to two-putt and tap-in on those two birdies. So, very limited mistakes. I three-putted 13 twice, and that's really the only mistakes that I've made this week."